"Two years of hard study down the drain."

That's the way Fayetteville Police Chief Johnny Roberts characterizes the news that his bachelor's degree in criminal justice may be worthless, reported on local television a year ago and repeated recently on ABC's news magazine show 20/20.

"I didn't just send in money and buy a degree," Roberts told The Citizen after the report aired. "I've got two of the textbooks sitting right here in my office. If I'd had any idea that it was anything but legitimate, I wouldn't have done it."

Roberts was one of two Fayette officials identified in the 20/20 report. Magistrate Judge Joe Tinsley also was mentioned as a degree recipient. Tinsley declined to be interviewed for this article.

The program focused on Columbia State University, a bogus college that reporters said has provided degrees to many clients in 27 days or less.

Roberts expressed frustration at the impression left on the program that he didn't act in good faith.

"I'm the one who was defrauded," Roberts said, adding that he filled out an application and was given a full course of study, which he completed before receiving the degree.

He received his job as police chief without a bachelor's degree, and did not receive any pay raise as a result of getting the degree after being hired, he said. "It was a personal thing. I just wanted to complete my college degree," he said.

City Councilman Larry Dell confirmed that Roberts made no claims of having a college degree when he was hired and has received no pay raises as a result of having one. Roberts' resume also confirms that he made no such claims.

"As far as support for the chief, he's got my unqualified support," said Dell. "He has carried the city to a new level."

According to the program, the Louisiana attorney general's office seized the school's files earlier this year and officials are looking for its founder, Ronald Pellar, as they shut down the organization for good.

The report points out that some of the school's graduates thought they were getting legitimate degrees, and read the textbooks, sent in tests and completed homework. But the "professors" grading those tests had bogus degrees themselves, and one "Ph.D." interviewee confessed to having graded papers based on their weight.

A transcript of the program quotes "police chief" as declining comment, but Roberts said he never appeared on camera. The speaker declining comment was actually Tinsley. At one point, the reporter again asks for comment, but calls the speaker "Claude."

Since taking over as chief ten years ago, Roberts has emphasized education and training, and it has paid off. The department recently became the 24th in the state to achieve accreditation by the Georgia Police Accreditation Commission, and it has twice received recognition as the best-trained unit in the state.

The general feeling on council, said Dell, is that Roberts has done an excellent job as chief.

"Do we want people who have a piece of paper, or people that can do the job?" he said.

The city's job description for police chief lists a bachelor's degree as "preferable," but does not require it.

After receiving the degree from Columbia, Roberts underwent a two-year executive level training program through Columbus State College in Columbus, Ga., in cooperation with the Georgia Association Chiefs of Police. There was no requirement of a bachelor's degree as a prerequisite for that training, Roberts said.